This study investigates the determinants, content and effects of parental discipline and control practices in families with normal and clinically depressed mothers. This study is part of a series of investigations assessing the environmental transmission of competent and disordered patterns of child behavior in families with normal and affectively disturbed parents. Impaired parental skills in managing children's behavior have repeatedly been implicated in the etiology of maladaptive patterns of child behavior, such as noncompliance, aggressiveness, and other antisocial behaviors. Assessments of parent and child behavior are based on detailed observations of parent-child interaction in a naturalistic setting. Spceific aspects of parental control that are being investigated are the purpose or function of parental interventions, the quality and timing of mothers' strategies and their ability to resolve conflicts successfully after initial noncompliance in children. Children's self-control and emotional reactions to parental interventions are also assessed. A second focus is on the role of individual difference variables, social class of mother, and seriousness and current status of mothers' affective disorder that may mediate the impact of depression on parental functioning.